This Week With Jesus

(Contd.) Why did Paul address this question with such urgency and you can hear that urgency in his words. It was because some false teachers in Corinth were preaching that there was no resurrection of the dead. They were of the view that once you die that was the end. The reason for this line of thinking is that some people treat god’s word arbitrarily. They take parts that they like and reject others that they don’t. And mind you some preachers do that even today. But if God’s word is the authority then all of it must believed even if there are some parts which may be difficult to understand.  Paul’s message to the Corinthians and to us is that to deny our own resurrection is to deny Christ’s rising from the dead.   And denying the resurrection of Christ destroys the very essence of the Christian faith which is eternal life through the risen and ever-living Jesus Christ. In verses 14 to 18 Paul makes 4 very crucial points. A. Denial of the resurrection

Bible Reading 1 Corinthians 15 verses 12 to 22 If you like to listen to politicians and world leader interviews the journalist interviewing the leader will sometimes ask the leader a question around what he or she would do if faced with a certain situation. The political leader in most cases dismisses the question with this response ‘that is a hypothetical question and I do not want to answer it’. That is because the politician does not want to be led into making a public statement that could hold him or her accountable in the future. But today we are going to consider and seek answers to a hypothetical question a question that is extremely critical to our Christian faith. Last Sunday we celebrated Easter which is also resurrection Sunday. We celebrate the rising of our Lord from the dead never ever to die again. The question is:  what if there was no Easter? What if there were no resurrection?   Most people would refuse to consider that possibility and like the politician, put it down

The word hypocrite comes from a Greek word that means “play actor.” A hypocrite is someone pretending to be something that he or she is not in order to receive recognition or gain. Matthew 21 18 and 19 18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. This passage is a shocker! To anyone who reads the Bible, Jesus, son of God comes across as a meek, non-aggressive, unselfish person who would not be harsh to anyone, especially if they showed harshness to them. After all he said blessed are the meek. That same person who, when beaten, humiliated and crucified did not react and in fact prayed for the forgiveness of His torturers and murderers. Now how is it that such a person curses a tree, simply because He was hungry and the tree had not produced fruit, though it had a foliage of lea